ABOUT FACTS NET

Ancient

Excavation Taking Place

The Puerto Rican island of Culebra is sometimes thought to be part of the Virgin Islands since it is only 12 miles from St. Thomas. The island is 7 miles long and about 3.5 miles wide. People from Venezuela eventually migrated there by way of Trinidad and the Lesser Antilles about 250 BC.

Ancient bat wing pendant made of shell unearthed on Culebra

Moccasin Bend Archeological District NHL, TN, (NHL criterion 5). Archeological resources located within this district possess national significance under the "Original Inhabitants" and "Major American Wars" themes. Moccasin Bend contains the best preserved and most diverse assemblage of prehistoric archeological resources in the Tennessee River Valley. It also contains sites associated with early Spanish exploration and is the locale of several sites associated with Civil War military operations in and around the strategic town of Chattanooga.

Moccasin Bend Excavation

Pecos Pueblo NHL, NM (NHL criterion 6). Pecos was an important Pueblo community strategically located along trade routes connecting the Great Plains with the Rio Grande Valley. A series of Spanish Missions occupied the site between the early 1600s and the time of the site's final abandonment in 1838. Today, Pecos Pueblo is part of the National Park System and known as Pecos National Monument.

Pecos Pueblo

Puukohola Heiau NHL, HI (NHL criterion 4). "Temple of the Hill of the Whale" is one of Hawaii's most famous temple sites. The site was built or rebuilt by Kamehameha the Great in 1791. From this site Kamehameha extended his authority over the Hawaiian Islands and founded the Hawaiian kingdom.

Puukohola Heiau

The human skeletal remains that have come to be referred to as the "Kennewick Man", or the "Ancient One", were found in July, 1996, below the surface of Lake Wallula, a pooled part of the Columbia River behind McNary Dam in Kennewick, Washington. Almost immediately controversy developed regarding who was responsible for determining what would be done with the remains. Claims were made by Indian tribes, local officials, and some members of the scientific community. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), the agency responsible for the land where the remains were recovered took possession, but its actions, following the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), to resolve the situation were challenged in Federal court. The Kennewick Man was believed to have lived 9200 years ago and was wounded by a stone projectile. On September 11, 2003, more than seven years after the first legal challenge, the case has been sent to the U.S. 9th District Court. The cranium was in many fragments so the many pictures seen on the internet may not be very accurate. Here is a picture of a rib bone recovered at the site.

Kennewick Man Rib

Occupied between AD 1250 and 1600, Mississippi's Emerald Mound is the second-largest ceremonial earthwork in the United States It is a flat-topped earthen structure that rises 35 feet high on eight acres along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Given to the National Park Service in 1950s, in 1989 it became a National Historic Landmark.

Emerald Mound

The Folsom complex was a prehistoric culture. They lived east of the Rocky Mountains and they were know for their stone tools. The tools have been dated to about 8000-9000 B.C.. The Folsom Point is famous. The earliest evidence of humans living in Yellowstone is provided by a Folsom projectile point discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The point dating about 10,900 years ago was manufactured from obsidian geochemically sourced to Obsidian Cliff, Yellowstone

Folsom Point

It seems the initial occupation of the American southeast was somewhere before 15000 B.C.. This is a very controversial statement and many will not agree, but many will, based on evidence of occupation of other areas such as Monte Verde, Chile and Cactus Hill, Virginia. Because of this, there is still much left to be discovered. I look forward to discoveries in years yet to come, and who knows, we might even discover a lost civilization or two?